Numismatist and gem scholar. Agostini worked during the
reign of Pope Urban VIII as the antiquarian to the Barberini family. His
letters, written to the family while in exile (1646-50) today form a trove of
information on the archaeological activity of the time. After the return
of the Barberini, Agostini continued to collect for them, arranging their
collection into one of the most comprehensible schemas of the time. He was
appointed commissioner of collections under Pope Alexander VII, directing the
excavations of the Roman Forum and baths near San Lorenzo in Panisperna.
His writing on carved gems, Le Gemme antiche figurate (1657) was issued
with the assistance of Giovanni Bellori (q.v.). The work organized gems
according to theme, identifying them by subject matter. Adolf Furtwängler
(q.v.) cited him in his Die Antike Gemmen of 1900.